And wilmer w



(No Model.)

- A. J. WILSON & W. W. SALMON.

ELECTRIC SIGNALING SYSTEM.

No. 490,761. Patented Jan. 31, 1893.

WITNESSES S w INVENT0RS.-I

-P' I v ATTORNE S UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADONIRAM J. WILSON, OF PORT CHESTER, NEW YORK, AND WILMER W.

SALMON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO THE HALL SIGNAL COMPANY, orMAINE.

ELECTRIC SIGNALING SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 490,761, dated January31, 1893.

Application filed September 14, 1892. Serial No, 445,861. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ADONIRAM J. WILsoN', residing at Port Chester, inthe county of Westchester and State of New York, and WILMER W. SALMON,residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, citizens of theUnited States, have jointly invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in ElectricSignaling Systems, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to automatic electric block signals forrailways, and has for its general object, to improve and simplify theoperation, and to maintain with certainty the warnings on every occasionof danger, with the minimum cost of plant and supervision. It has moreespecial reference to that class of signaling systems Where the trainsets the signal at danger upon entering, and clears such signal whenleaving the guarded section, and one of the special results attained bythe improvement in this connection is the postponement of the finalclearing of the signal until the last portion of the train has passedout of the section.

Another important result is that if a second train enters the sectionwhile the first is standing with some of its wheels Within and some ofits wheels beyond the section, the second train will put the signal todanger and the signal will not thereafter be cleared by the succeedingwheels of the first train.

A further beneficial result is that if a second train runs past thedanger signal and thus enters the section while another train is uponit, although the signal will be cleared by the first train in leavingthe section, it will be again set to danger by the second train when itstrikes the second track instrument in the section.

The present improvement consists in an arrangement of circuits andmechanism whereby the above results are attained, for full comprehensionof which reference must be had to the accompanying drawing, forming partof this specification, the same being a, diagrammatical representationof one block, or guarded section, and its overlap, constructed accordingto our present improvement.

' T, T T are any suitable track instruments situated respectively at theentrance of the block and at the commencement of the overlap on the nextsucceeding block, and at the end of the block.

S is the signal controlling the block, situated at or near its entrance.The main signaling circuit is from battery B to wire w, coils of relayR, wire w, armature 1, wire 10 spring. (1 of double circuit instrumentD, wire 10 through signal S, normally closed spring tof track instrumentT, and common wire Z to battery. Thus the relay R is held closed and thesignal S normally at clear, there being no train upon the block.

Upon atrain entering the block and proceeding in the direction indicatedby the arrow in the drawing, the operation by its wheels of the trackinstrument T, momentarily opens the spring i breaking the main signalingcircuit at that point, thus demagnetizing the relay R, allowing .itsarmature 1* to fall, and thus establishing a permanent break at thepoint 1, demagnetizing the sig-v nal magnet (not shown) and causing thesignal S to fall by gravity to danger. The train on passing through theblock and operating track instrument T closing the normally open springt forms a circuit fromcommon battery wire Z through spring 15 wire 2,lower magnets d of double circuit instrument D, wire 3 and wire to tobattery. This closes spring (1 and opens 01. The closing of (1 so nearlycompletes What we call the clear-circuit, that by a succeeding trackinstrument the clear circuit may be operated and the signal may be againset to clear while the opening of spring (1 introduces a break in themain si naling circuit which would send the signal to dangerindependently of the operation of track instrument T.

When the train reaches the track instrument T at the end of the overlap,and closes spring 25 it makes three circuits, one of which is asfollows:From common battery wire Z through spring t wire 4, Wire 5,through closed spring 61 of double circuit instrument D, wire 6, throughcoils of relay R, wire to to battery. This energizes the magnets ofrelay R and causes the drawing up of armature 1, and closing the point 1of that relay. This circuit is the clear circuit. It closes thepermanent break at 1 in the main signaling circuit. Nevertheless themain signaling circuit is not completely closed thereby since a breakstill exists at the spring d. The closing of spring i also forms acircuit from common battery wire Z through spring 25 wire 4, wire 7,magnets of shunt relay R and wire 8 to battery B. (A supplementarybattery X of one or two cells is preferably employed to assist incounteracting the resistance offered by the adjoining wires 5, 4, springt the.) This energizes the magnets of relay R draws up armature r andforms another and secondary and shunt circuit as follows:From commonbattery wire Z through armature r of relay R wire 9 upper magnets 01 ofdouble circuit instrument D, wire 10, wire 10 armature 1, Wire w, coilsof relay R, wire w, to battery Bl The formation of this latter circuitenergizes upper magnets 0 of double circuit instrument D, and reversesthe positions of springs d and cl, restoring them to their normalcondition as seen in the drawing, 7 6., d open and (1 closed, and thusfinally closes all breaks in the main signaling circuit, while it at thesame time shunts or short-circuits the current from the signal, and thuseffectually prevents clearing of the signal so long as the spring t isclosed.

From the above it will be seen that the first wheel of the first trainstriking track instrument T will unlock the double-circuit instrument D,thus breaking the clear circuit 4c, 5, 6 &c. at the spring d and causingthe current to take the course from wire 4, wire 7, coils of relay R andwire 8 to battery,and so long as spring 25 is closed, (or a cross of anykind is on the line between clear wire 4 and common wire Z) it will beunderstood that the shunt circuit (from wire Z, through armature 1',wire 9, magnets d of D, wires 10 and w armature l, coils of signal relayR, and wire to to battery) is complete, and short-circuits the entirebattery between the lines named. This effectually prevents any currentfrom passing through the signal instrument, and insures the maintenanceof the signal at danger so long as any of the wheels of the train arepassing over track instrument T or the wires 4 and Zare crossed. Whenthe trainhas passed T the spring 29' opens and thus breaks the circuitthrough the shunt relay R letting its armature rfall and by sending thecurrent from the battery B through w, R, 'w', 1, 102, d, w and thesignal instrument, the signal is drawn up and held at clear. Thisbreaking of the clear wire by the first end of the, first train goingout of the overlap at T instead of depending upon its being done by thefirst end of the second train entering the block at T, differentiatesour system from all other block signaling systems known to us. Should atrain in passing partly off the overlap stop immediately after some ofits wheels had operated the track instrument T and thus cleared thesignal S, a second train entering the section while the first train wasthus stopped with some of its wheels beyond and some within the section,would send the sig- .nal to danger; and when the remaining wheels of thefirst train passed over the track instrument T they would not clear thesignal since the clear circuit would have been broken by the firstwheels of the first train. The second train would thus be protected bythe danger signal which would not clear until this second train hadpassed out of the section. Furthermore, should a following train enterthe block while the signal was at danger, although the preceding trainon the overlap would clear the signal when it passed T the second trainwill set it at danger directly such latter train reaches T by breakingthe main signaling circuit at d of the double circuit instrument D asalready described.

An economical advantage of our present improvement is that the mainsignaling circuit from the battery through the signal relay and signalinstrument is operativelycomplete while using two wires only from thesignal to the battery-house.

Although we have herein described and shown our improved signalingsystem as arranged in connection with a normally closed circuit, and tobe operated through the medium of track instruments, if preferred, anormally open circuit may be employed, or rail circuits may take theplace of the track instruments, and the apparatus and line connectionsbe correspondingly varied, and other variations of details maybe madeaccording to the judgment of the constructing engineer without departingfrom the essential points of the invention.

It will further be understood that our invention may be employed inconjunction and connection with other systems, devices and inventionsnot inconsistent therewith.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

l. In a railway block signaling system, the combination of a mainsignaling circuit,a circuit controller in said main circuit operated bya moving train and located at the entrance of a guarded block orsection,-a circuit breaker in. said main circuit,-a clear circuitcontrolling said circuit breaker,-a cir cuit controller located at theexit end of the guarded block or section, operating said clear circuitand operated by the train',-and a device for breaking the clear circuitconnected with and also controlled by the saidclear circuit controller,substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a main signaling circuit,a circuit controller insaid main circuit operated by a moving train and located at the entranceof a guarded block or section,a circuit breaker in said main circuit,-aclear circuit controlling said circuit breaker,-a circuit changer inboth the signaling and the clear circuits,an electro-magnet controllingsaid circuit changer and controlled by a device located within theguarded block or section and operated by the moving train,a circuitcontroller located at the exit end of the block and adapted to beoperated by the moving train and thus operate the clear circuit and thesaid circuit changer whereby the clear circuit and the signal circuitare restored to normal, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a railway signaling circuit, a circuit controllerin said circuit operated by a moving train and located at the entranceend of a guarded block,a circuit breaker in said circuit,-a clearcircuit controlling said circuit breaker,--a circuit changer in both thesignaling and the clear circuits,an electro-magnet controlling saidcircuit changer and controlled by a device operated by the moving trainand located within said guarded block,a circuit controller located atthe exit end of said block and operated by the moving train,-to energizethe clear circuit, and also a secondary circuit thereby operating anelectro magnet controlling said circuit changer, whereby the clearcircuit-and signal circuit are restored to normal and whereby the signalcircuit is shunted as long' as the said circuit controller at the exitend of the block is in an active state of operation, substantially asset forth.

4. In a railway signaling system, the combination with the mainsignaling circuit having signaling relay R and circuit controller 25, tand i operated by a moving train, of a clear circuit including saidsignaling relay, a double circuit instrument or circuit changer D inboth the signaling and clear circuits, operated by said circuitcontroller 25 and a shunt circuit having shunt relay R controlled bysaid circuit controller t arranged to operate substantially as setforth.

5. In an electric block signaling system a normally closed signalcircuit adapted to maintain a signal normally at safety, and including anormally closed circuit controller operated by a magnet R, a circuitcontroller located at the entrance of a block adapted to be operated bya train to throw the signal to danger, a clear circuit including themagnet R, a circuit controller for said clear circuit adapted to beoperated by a train, a normally closed circuit breaker included in thesignal circuit, a normally opencircuit closer included in the clearcircuit, a circuit controller adapted to be operated by a train andlocated within the block but near the end thereof, and a circuit forsaid circuit controller adapted to open the circuit breaker of thesignal circuit and close the circuit closer of theoclear circuit, anormally open circuit adapted to restore the said circuit closer and thesaid circuit breaker to normal and including the circuit controlleroperated by the magnet R, and means for closing the said normally opencircuit as long as the circuit controller located at the end of theblock is being acted upon, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

ADONIRAM J. WILSON. WILMER W. SALMON.

Witnesses:

W. A. FAIR, IRA A. MOCORMACK.

